System and method of life management for low endurance SSD NAND devices used as secondary cache

ABSTRACT

A system and method for managing the life expectancy of at least one solid state drive (SSD) within a cache device of a storage subsystem includes determining a baseline rate of decline for each SSD based on its guaranteed life expectancy. At intervals, each SSD of the cache device is polled for remaining life and power-on time, and a current rate of decline (based on time since initialization) and a cumulative rate of decline (based on total lifespan of the SSD) is determined. When both the current rate of decline and the cumulative rate of decline exceed the baseline rate of decline for any SSD of the cache device, write requests to that SSD are blocked and redirected to the virtual device until either the current rate of decline or cumulative rate of decline drop below the baseline rate.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the invention relate generally to the use of Flash-basedSolid State Drives (SSD) and particularly to the use of SSDs in highavailability storage systems.

BACKGROUND

Solid-state disks or drives (SSDs) are frequently used for cachinginside a data storage subsystem. Generally the user need not worry aboutcaching algorithms as caching can be managed at the driver level or atthe storage/host bus adaptor (HBA) controller level, transparently fromthe user. Due to the cost of SSD NAND flash memory, consumer multi-levelcell (cMLC) or equivalent low-cost, low-endurance NAND options may beadopted for the sake of market competitiveness. If the cMLC SSD is useddirectly, this is not a problem; the user assumes responsibility forensuring the SSD will last for the desired period (ex.—lifespan).However, if the cMLC SSD is used transparently for caching inside astorage subsystem, the subsystem then bears responsibility for ensuringa desired lifespan of the SSD, and also that the user will not encounterany major or erratic drop in performance. In addition, the subsystemvendor will not have any control or discretion as to incoming I/O afterthe point of sale.

As a result, standalone SSD manufacturers may implement a feature knownas “life curve throttling”. In order to guarantee SSD lifespan, thepower-on hours and remaining life of a single SSD are measured, withheavy throttling implemented if the SSD is used faster than allowed.When the SSD is used as a caching device, however, such heavy throttlingcan severely impair performance. The cache serves as a layer in front ofprimary storage, and therefore cache performance that is too slow canhave a cascading effect on the performance of the entire storagesubsystem. Therefore inbuilt SSD throttling is not a viable option forguaranteeing a fixed lifespan (e.g., 3 years) to consumers. If, forexample, a heavily throttled or “slow” SSD is used to cache hard disk(HDD) data, any “hot” I/O must deal with two “slow” devices: the HDD andthe SSD. It may therefore be desirable to manage SSD endurance (toguarantee a fixed lifespan) without the performance impairmentsassociated with heavy throttling.

SUMMARY

Embodiments of the invention concern a system and method of SSDendurance management that can reduce write operations (ex.—writes) toany SSD within the cache device of a storage subsystem and thus extendthe usable life of the SSD and ensure a fixed lifespan as warranted.Because writes to the SSD are the root cause of life erosion, it followsthat controlling writes to the SSD can provide a measure of control overthe endurance and life left to the SSD. When an SSD is used for caching,writes to the SSD happen in two primary cases. First, when a logicalblock address (LBA) range, or window, becomes “hot” (i.e., containsfrequently accessed data), that range or region is brought to (writtento) the SSD. The size of the hot region may be greater than the size ofthe SSD, or the hot region may move with time. Consequently, new sets ofhot windows may continually replace old sets, resulting in sustained SSDwrites and consequently decreased endurance. Second, in the case of awrite “hit” to a hot window, the resulting “hot write” is terminated onthe SSD rather than on the hard drive.

Embodiments of the invention therefore focus on addressing the firstcase rather than the second. As hotspots move, the correspondingdecrease in performance is gradual rather than sudden and drastic. Inembodiments, two attributes of the SSD are used as parameters to monitorand ensure the useful life of the SSD. Power-on time, or how long theSSD is powered on, is persistent across boots and the power cycle. Lifeleft is simply the useful life left to the SSD. The measurement of SSDlife left accounts for some combination of program/erase (P/E) cyclesand Flash block retirement. Most SSDs generally provide this informationvia some form of custom I/O control (e.g., as self-monitoring attributessuch as Power-On Hours and SSDLifeLeft).

It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description andthe following detailed description are exemplary and explanatory onlyand are not necessarily restrictive of the invention as claimed. Theaccompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a partof the specification, illustrate embodiments of the invention andtogether with the general description, serve to explain the principlesof the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The invention may be better understood by those skilled in the art byreference to the accompanying figures in which:

FIG. 1 is a chart illustrating a baseline rate of decline;

FIG. 2A is a chart comparing current and cumulative rates of decline toa baseline rate;

FIG. 2B is a chart comparing current and cumulative rates of decline toa baseline rate;

FIG. 3 is a process flow diagram of a method of the invention; and

FIG. 4 is a process flow diagram of a method of the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Features of the invention in its various embodiments are exemplified bythe following descriptions with reference to the accompanying drawings,which describe the invention with further detail. These drawings depictonly selected embodiments of the invention, and should not be consideredto limit its scope in any way.

In embodiments, a storage subsystem incorporating multiple SSDsaccording to the invention can implement a concept known as firmware(FW) throttling. FW throttling revolves around measuring the rate ofdecline of the SSD in real time. For example, the firmware can at fixedintervals (e.g., every 60 minutes) poll the remaining SSD life left inorder to measure the current rate of decline, and then take steps toensure that the rate of decline (ex.—rate of decrement) of SSD life isno greater than a baseline rate that would sustain a new SSD on a prorata basis for the desired lifespan.

For example, referring to FIG. 1, a given SSD may have a rated usefullife of 3 years power-on time (≈26,280 hr or 1,576,800 min). At thebeginning of its useful life (initial drive deployment, 110 a), the SSDclearly has 100 percent of its useful life remaining. If SSD enduranceremains constant with the baseline rate of decline no, then two-thirdsof the SSD's useful life should remain after one year (110 b), andone-third after two years (110 c). In embodiments, a storage subsystemaccording to the invention can take action to prevent any individual SSDwithin the cache device from declining (in endurance) at a rate greaterthan the baseline rate 110.

In embodiments, a baseline rate of decline 110 can be calculated as asimple linear function indicating a baseline value for SSD life left forany corresponding amount of power-on time. For example, if the rateduseful life is 3 years, the SSD should normally lose about 0.0063percent of its useful life for every minute of power-on time:

${BaselineRateOfDecline} = {\frac{100.000\%}{1\text{,}576\text{,}800\mspace{14mu}\min} = {0.00006341958 ⪢ 63.420}}$This rate can be naturalized to represent a large integer (e.g., 63.420)with enough resolution to capture nuances where life left can beexpressed to a precision of 3 decimal points (e.g., 80.123% life left).

In embodiments, a cache device may incorporate one or more SSD devicesconfigured for a standard RAID level (RAID 0, RAID 1, etc.). When acache device is thus created, or firmware reboots with a cache device,the storage subsystem firmware may define this as a “start of day” andstop any life monitoring threads already in progress. In embodiments,the firmware may then iterate through every SSD in the caching deviceand define each necessary variable through any appropriate combinationof SSD life left and power-on time. For example, in embodiments NVal mayrepresent the percentage of SSD life left (from 0.000 to 1.000),LifeAtStart(i) may represent the life left at the start of day forSSD_(i) (normalized to a range of 0.000 to 100.000), andPowerOnMinsAtStart(i) may represent the total minutes in power elapsedfor SSD_(i) at a start of day. In embodiments, at a start of da, thefirmware may also start a life monitor timer (cycling at intervals ofe.g., 60 minutes) for monitoring SSD life and taking appropriatethrottling action.

In embodiments, within the life monitor timer firmware may monitor bothcurrent and cumulative rates of SSD endurance decline. For example, inembodiments firmware may iterate through every SSD in the caching deviceand define additional variables including (but not limited to)LifeLeftNow(i), representing the life remaining to SSD_(i) at the timeof iteration (normalized to a range of 0.000 to 100.000) andPowerOnMinsNow(i), representing the total minutes in power elapsed forSSD_(i) at the time of iteration. In embodiments, a current rate ofdecline (relative to the time elapsed since the last iteration) may thenbe calculated, e.g.:

${{CurrentRateOfDecline}\mspace{14mu}(i)} = \frac{{{LifeAtStart}(i)} - {{LifeLeftNow}(i)}}{{{PowerOnMinsNow}(i)} - {{PowerOnMinsAtStart}(i)}}$and a cumulative rate of decline (relative to the lifespan of the SSD)may be calculated, e.g.:

${{Cumulative}\mspace{14mu}{Rate}\mspace{14mu}{Of}\mspace{14mu}{Decline}\mspace{14mu}(i)} = \frac{100 - {{LifeLeftNow}(i)}}{{PowerOnMinsNow}(i)}$

In embodiments, if both the current rate of decline and the cumulativerate of decline for any SSD of a cache device exceed the baseline rateof decline for that SSD, window creation may be stopped for that SSDuntil the trigger conditions no longer apply. In embodiments, windowcreation refers to the writing of LBA ranges identified as hot data tothe SSD. For example, in embodiments SSD_(i) (with a rated lifespan of 3years and thus a baseline rate of 63.420, as outlined above) starts aday with 72.548% life left (NVal=0.72548; LifeAtStart(i)=72.548) and441,500 total power-on minutes. In embodiments, after 60 minutes (or anyother desired interval) the firmware may iterate through every SSDpolling for life left and power-on minutes. In embodiments, SSD_(i) mayreturn a life left of 0.71996 (LifeLeftNow(i)=71.996) and 441560power-on minutes, reflecting extremely heavy use. Calculation by theexample methods outlined above may indicate a current rate of declinefar above the baseline:

${{CurrentRateOfDecline}\mspace{14mu}(i)} = {\frac{72.548 - 71.996}{441,{560 - 441},500} = {\frac{0.552}{60} = {0.0092 ⪢ 9200.000}}}$and a cumulative rate of decline slightly below the baseline:

${{CumulativeRateOfDecline}\mspace{14mu}(i)} = {\frac{100 - 71.996}{441,560} = {\frac{28.004}{441,560} = {0.00006342092 ⪢ 63.421}}}$

In embodiments, when both the current rate of decline and the cumulativerate of decline are in excess of the baseline rate of decline (here,63.420), the trigger conditions have been met and window creation can bestopped. In embodiments, the caching firmware or driver may stop cachechurning by hafting write requests of LBA ranges identified as hot data(ex.—creation of new cache windows) while maintaining existing cachewindows (ex.—processing read requests to the SSD). In embodiments,should an LBA range become “hot” under these conditions, it may not bebrought into the SSD as would normally be the case. Instead, thecorresponding I/O request may bypass the SSD and proceed to the back-enddisk or hard drive. However, all I/O requests that “hit” existing cachewindows (e.g., read requests) may still be served by the SSD. Referringback to the above example, in embodiments the firmware may poll all SSDsonce more for life left and power-on time after 60 minutes more haveelapsed. In embodiments, if SSD_(i) continues to return a life left of71.996 due to lack of write endurance activity, the current rate ofdecline may still be far in excess of the baseline:

${{CurrentRateOfDecline}\mspace{14mu}(i)} = {\frac{72.548 - 71.996}{441,{620 - 441},500} = {\frac{0.552}{120} = {0.0046 ⪢ 4600.000}}}$while the cumulative rate of decline may be slightly under the baselinerate:

${{CumulativeRateOfDecline}\mspace{14mu}(i)} = {\frac{100 - 71.996}{441,620} = {\frac{28.004}{441,620} = {0.00006341198 ⪢ 63.412}}}$In embodiments, when both current and cumulative rates of decline do notexceed the baseline rate (e.g., either the current rate or thecumulative rate is below the baseline rate), normal window creation maybe resumed until the triggering conditions are again met for any SSD inthe cache device. In some embodiments, stopping window creation may betriggered by a flag that persists until both rates of decline are overthe baseline for that SSD, at which point the flag can be reset by thefirmware.

Endurance-related problems due to cache churn are due primarily to“read-fill” requests, where hot data is brought into an SSD from thehard drive in response to a hot read request, because each read-fillrequest generates a write to the SSD. In embodiments, a storagesubsystem according to the invention can maintain existing cache windowsand cache lines, serving only read requests to the SSD and host writesto the hard drive, neither of which affect write endurance. Someread-fills may occur whereby invalid sub-cachelines of existingcachelines are filled, but these occurrences will gradually decrease andstop. Similarly, a negligible amount of SSD writes may be generated bycache window metadata updates as a result of bypass I/O, but theseinstances will also decrease and stop when window churn ceases.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate conditions where one rate of decline mayexceed the baseline rate where the other rate of decline does not. Inembodiments, stopping window creation may be unnecessary where only onerate of decline (current or cumulative) exceeds the baseline rate 110.Referring to FIG. 2A, in embodiments when the cumulative rate of decline120 exceeds the baseline rate 110 but the current rate of decline 130does not, while the SSD may have been subjected to high endurance writeusage in the past (e.g., as a direct disk) current usage may not beexcessive and does not threaten the guaranteed pro rata lifespan of theSSD. Therefore, there may be no rationale for impairing presentperformance simply because of past endurance. In the case of anexcessively worn SSD, however, frequent I/O disruption may result inexcessive delay. Referring to FIG. 2B, in embodiments when the currentrate of decline 130 exceeds the baseline rate 110 but the cumulativerate of decline 120 does not, the disparity may be explained by loadpeaks on the part of the particular SSD at certain points of the day,while at other points there may be little or no load. Whatever theultimate reason, the SSD has enough life left to meet its rated lifecapacity and, as in FIG. 2A, there may also be no rationale forthrottling.

In embodiments, the result of stopping window churn (ex.—creation of newwindows, writing hot data to the SSD) will be to dramatically reduceendurance load on the target SSD in the short term, providing the SSDwith time to recover. Minor drops in performance may occur due toreduction of cache hit ratio caused by a moving hotspot. For example,assuming a cache device size 30% the size of the source back-end diskand random I/O requests, in embodiments a 30% cache hit ratio shouldpersist even when window creation stops. Nor will stopping windowcreation affect the flushing of dirty cache windows.

FIG. 3 illustrates a process flow diagram of a method 200 for managingthe life expectancy of at least one solid state drive (SSD) in a storagesubsystem according to an embodiment of the invention. It is notedherein that the method 200 may be carried out utilizing any of theembodiments described previously. It is further noted, however, thatmethod 200 is not limited to the components or configurations describedpreviously as multiple components and/or configurations may be suitablefor executing method 200.

At step 205, the method 200 initializes at least one cache deviceincorporating the at least one SSD. In embodiments, the at least onecache device may incorporate the at least one SSD in at least onestandard RAID configuration. In embodiments, the firmware level of thestorage subsystem may terminate any ongoing threads monitoring the lifeexpectancy of the at least one SSD upon initialization of the at leastone cache device. At step 210, the method 200 starts at least one timerto run for a predetermined interval. In embodiments, the predeterminedinterval may be sixty minutes. At step 215, the method 200 determines afirst rate of change representing a relationship between the rated lifeexpectancy of the at least one SSD and the chronological lifespan of theat least one SSD. In embodiments, the first rate of change may bederived from at least one self-monitoring attribute of the at least oneSSD. In embodiments, the first rate of change may be a linear functionrepresenting a constant decline in life expectancy. At step 220, themethod 200 determines a first parameter associated with the remaininglife of the at least one SSD at the time of initialization. At step 225,the method 200 determines a second parameter associated with thepower-on time of the at least one SSD at the time of initialization. Atstep 230, when the at least one timer expires, the method 200 receives athird parameter associated with the remaining life of the at least oneSSD. At step 235, the method 200 receives a fourth parameter associatedwith power-on time of the at least one SSD after initializing the atleast one cache device. At step 240, the method 200 restarts the atleast one timer. In embodiments, at least one of the first parameter,the second parameter, the third parameter and the fourth parameter maybe a self-monitoring attribute of the at least one SSD. At step 245, themethod 200 determines a second rate of change representing arelationship between life expended by the at least one SSD afterinitializing the at least one cache device and power-on time of the atleast one SSD after initializing the at least one cache device. At step250, the method 200 determines a third rate of change representing arelationship between total life expended by the at least one SSD andtotal power-on time of the at least SSD. At step 255, when both thesecond rate of change and the third rate of change are greater than thefirst rate of change, the method 200 blocks at least one I/O request tothe at least one SSD. In embodiments, the at least one I/O request maybe a write request associated with an LBA range identified as frequentlyaccessed data At step 260, the method 200 redirects the at least one I/Orequest to at least one of a back-end disk and a virtual device.

Referring to FIG. 4, the method 200 as illustrated by FIG. 3 may have anadditional step 265. At step 265, when either the second rate of changeor the third rate of change is not greater than the first rate ofchange, resuming receipt of the at least one I/O request via the atleast one SSD.

Those having skill in the art will appreciate that there are variousvehicles by which processes and/or systems and/or other technologiesdescribed herein can be effected (e.g., hardware, software, and/orfirmware), and that the preferred vehicle will vary with the context inwhich the processes and/or systems and/or other technologies aredeployed. For example, if an implementer determines that speed andaccuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly hardwareand/or firmware vehicle; alternatively, if flexibility is paramount, theimplementer may opt for a mainly software implementation; or, yet againalternatively, the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware,software, and/or firmware. Hence, there are several possible vehicles bywhich the processes and/or devices and/or other technologies describedherein may be effected, none of which is inherently superior to theother in that any vehicle to be utilized is a choice dependent upon thecontext in which the vehicle will be deployed and the specific concerns(e.g., speed, flexibility, or predictability) of the implementer, any ofwhich may vary. Those skilled in the art will recognize that opticalaspects of implementations will typically employ optically-orientedhardware, software, and or firmware.

The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates differentcomponents contained within, or connected with, different othercomponents. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures aremerely exemplary, and that in fact many other architectures can beimplemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense,any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality iseffectively “associated” such that the desired functionality isachieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve aparticular functionality can be seen as “associated with” each othersuch that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective ofarchitectures or intermedial components. Likewise, any two components soassociated can also be viewed as being “connected”, or “coupled”, toeach other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two componentscapable of being so associated can also be viewed as being “couplable”,to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples ofcouplable include but are not limited to physically mateable and/orphysically interacting components and/or wirelessly interactable and/orwirelessly interacting components and/or logically interacting and/orlogically interactable components.

While particular aspects of the subject matter described herein havebeen shown and described, it will be apparent to those skilled in theart that, based upon the teachings herein, changes and modifications maybe made without departing from the subject matter described herein andits broader aspects and, therefore, the appended claims are to encompasswithin their scope all such changes and modifications as are within thetrue spirit and scope of the subject matter described herein.

We claim:
 1. A method for managing the life expectancy of at least onesolid state drive (SSD) in a storage subsystem, comprising: initializingat least one cache device including the at least one SSD; determining afirst rate of change representing a relationship between the rated lifeexpectancy of the at least one SSD and the chronological lifespan of theat least one SSD; determining a first parameter associated with theremaining life of the at least one SSD; determining a second parameterassociated with the power-on time of the at least one SSD; starting atleast one timer to run for a predetermined interval, when the at leastone timer expires, determining a third parameter associated with theremaining life of the at least one SSD, determining a fourth parameterassociated with power-on time of the at least one SSD after initializingthe at least one cache device, and restarting the at least one timer;determining a second rate of change representing a relationship betweenlife expended by the at least one SSD after initializing the at leastone cache device and power-on time of the at least one SSD afterinitializing the at least one cache device; determining a third rate ofchange representing a relationship between total life expended by the atleast one SSD and total power-on time of the at least SSD; and when boththe second rate of change and the third rate of change are greater thanthe first rate of change: blocking at least one I/O request to the atleast one SSD, and redirecting the at least one I/O request to at leastone of a back-end disk and a virtual device.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein the at least one I/O request is a write request associated withan LBA range identified as frequently accessed data.
 3. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the first rate of change is derived from at least oneself-monitoring attribute of the at least one SSD.
 4. The method ofclaim 1, wherein at least one of the first parameter, the secondparameter, the third parameter and the fourth parameter is aself-monitoring attribute of the at least one SSD.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising: when either the second rate of change orthe third rate of change is not greater than the first rate of change,resuming receipt of the at least one I/O request via the at least oneSSD.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first rate of change is alinear function representing a constant decline in life expectancy. 7.The method of claim 1, wherein the predetermined interval is 60 minutes.8. A system for managing the life expectancy of at least one solid statedrive (SSD) in a storage subsystem, comprising: at least one cachedevice incorporating the at least one SSD; at least one of a back-enddisk and a virtual device; at least one timer configured to run for apredetermined interval; and a firmware level operably coupled to the atleast one SSD and configured to (a) initialize the at least one cachedevice; (b) start the at least one timer; (c) determine a first rate ofchange representing a relationship between the rated life expectancy ofthe at least one SSD and the chronological lifespan of the at least oneSSD; (d) determine a first parameter associated with the remaining lifeof the at least one SSD at the time of initialization; (e) determine asecond parameter associated with the power-on time of the at least oneSSD at the time of initialization; (f) when the at least one timerexpires, receive a third parameter associated with the remaining life ofthe at least one SSD, receive a fourth parameter associated withpower-on time of the at least one SSD after initializing the at leastone cache device, and restart the at least one timer; (g) determine asecond rate of change representing a relationship between life expendedby the at least one SSD after initializing the at least one cache deviceand power-on time of the at least one SSD after initializing the atleast one cache device; (h) determine a third rate of changerepresenting a relationship between total life expended by the at leastone SSD and total power-on time of the at least SSD; and (i) when boththe second rate of change and the third rate of change are greater thanthe first rate of change: Nock at least one I/O request to the at leastone SSD, and redirect the at least one I/O request to at least one of aback-end disk and a virtual device.
 9. The system of claim 8, whereinthe at least one I/O request is a write request associated with an LBArange identified as frequently accessed data.
 10. The system of claim 8,wherein the firmware level is configured to determine at least one ofthe first rate of decline, the first parameter, the second parameter,the third parameter, and the fourth parameter from at least oneself-monitoring attribute of the SSD.
 11. The system of claim 8, whereinthe firmware level is further configured to terminate any ongoingthreads monitoring the life expectancy of the at least one SSD atinitialization of the at least one cache device.
 12. The system of claim8, wherein the firmware level is further configured to when either thesecond rate of change or the third rate of change is not greater thanthe first rate of change, resume receipt of the at least one I/O requestvia the at least one SSD.
 13. The system of claim 8, wherein the atleast one cache device incorporates the at least one SSD in at least onestandard RAID configuration.
 14. A data storage subsystem including asystem for managing the life expectancy of at least one solid statedrive (SSD) in a storage subsystem, comprising: at least one cachedevice incorporating the at least one SSD; at least one of a back-enddisk and a virtual device; at least one timer configured to run for apredetermined interval; and a firmware level operably coupled to the atleast one SSD and configured to (a) initialize the at least one cachedevice; (b) start the at least one timer; (c) determine a first rate ofchange representing a relationship between the rated life expectancy ofthe at least one SSD and the chronological lifespan of the at least oneSSD; (d) determine a first parameter associated with the remaining lifeof the at least one SSD at the time of initialization; (e) determine asecond parameter associated with the power-on time of the at least oneSSD at the time of initialization; (f) when the at least one timerexpires, determine a third parameter associated with the remaining lifeof the at least one SSD, determine a fourth parameter associated withpower-on time of the at least one SSD after initializing the at leastone cache device, and restart the at least one timer; (g) determine asecond rate of change representing a relationship between life expendedby the at least one SSD after initializing the at least one cache deviceand power-on time of the at least one SSD after initializing the atleast one cache device; (h) determine a third rate of changerepresenting a relationship between total life expended by the at leastone SSD and total power-on time of the at least SSD; and (i) when boththe second rate of change and the third rate of change are greater thanthe first rate of change: block at least one I/O request intended forthe at least one SSD, and redirect the at least one I/O request to atleast one of a back-end disk and a virtual device; and (j) when eitherthe second rate of change or the third rate of change is not greaterthan the first rate of change, resume receipt of the at least one I/Orequest via the at least one SSD.
 15. The data storage subsystem ofclaim 14, wherein the at least one I/O request is a write requestassociated with an LBA range identified as frequently accessed data. 16.The data storage subsystem of claim 14, wherein the firmware level isconfigured to determine at least one of the first rate of decline, thefirst parameter, the second parameter, the third parameter, and thefourth parameter from at least one self-monitoring attribute of the SSD.17. The data storage subsystem of claim 14, wherein the firmware levelis further configured to terminate any ongoing threads monitoring thelife expectancy of the at least one SSD at initialization of the atleast one cache device.
 18. The data storage subsystem of claim 14,wherein the firmware level is further configured to when either thesecond rate of change or the third rate of change is not greater thanthe first rate of change, resume receipt of the at least one I/O requestvia the at least one SSD.
 19. The data storage subsystem of claim 14,wherein the at least one cache device incorporates the at least one SSDin at least one standard RAID configuration.